CCBC Booklists

CCBC Review:

As a child, Osnat Barzani persuaded her rabbi father to teach her to read Hebrew and study Torah. A Kurdish Jew born in 1590 in Mosul, Iraq, Osnat’s scholarly skills and interests were unusual for a girl of her time. As an adult, she married a man named Jacob on the condition that he excuse her from chores so that she might continue her Torah study. After her father’s death, Osnat became a teacher at his yeshiva, and when Jacob died years later, she filled Jacob’s position. A respected and beloved teacher, Osnat was also considered a miracle worker. When her pet dove was struck by a hunter’s arrow, she healed it. In another astonishing event, she seemed to call upon angels to preserve the Torah scrolls inside a synagogue that had been engulfed in flames. Richly colored gouache illustrations fittingly walk a fine line between realistic and fantastical in this fascinating story about a groundbreaking historical woman whose deeds are remembered mostly in legends. ©2022 Cooperative Children’s Book Center

Illustrated by Vali Mintzi

CCBC Age Recommendation: Ages 7-11
Age Range: PreK-Early Elementary (Ages 4-7) Grades 3-5 (Ages 8-10) Grades 6-8 (Ages 11-13)
Formats: Biography, Autobiography and Memoir Picture book
Subjects: 16th Century Biography Education Girls and Women Iraqis and Iraqi Americans Jewish People Teachers/Mentors
Diversity subjects: Arab Asian Middle East Jewish
On CCBC Booklist: Between Fact and Fiction: Selected Picture Books to Encourage Critical Reading/Thinking  

Publisher: Levine Querido
Publish Year: 2021
Pages: 32
ISBN: 9781646140374
CCBC Location: Non-Fiction, 296 Samuel

Add To My List